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NEPEAN
(née
BELLIS
),
MARY EDITH
(
1876
-
1960
),
novelist
;

b. at
Llandudno, Caern.
in
1876
, daughter of
JohnBellis
, a
Caernarfonshirecounty councillor
, and
Mary
, his wife. She was educated at home, studying art with
RobertFowler
, and later showed her work at a number of exhibitions. She m. in
1899Molyneux EdwardNepean
, of a family of high-ranking civil servants, and resided in
England
, moving in literary circles in
London
. In
1932
she accused
CaradocEvans
(see above)
of libelling her in his novel
Wasps
(
1933
), and the book had to be altered before publication. She also took part in public life, being
Commandant
of a section of the
Red Cross
in
Kent
, and travelled in the
Near East
and the
Balkans
, taking a
particular interest in the life of the gypsies
of
Transylvania
.

Her first novel,
Gwyneth of the Welsh Hills
(
1917
), showed the influence of both
Allen Raine
(
Anne AdalisaPuddicombe
,
DWB
, 810)
and
CaradocEvans
. A further 34 light romantic novels followed, almost all with Welsh settings or characters, and she wrote one book based on her travels,
Romance and realism in the Near East
(
1933
), as well as much popular journalism. Her husband d. in
1948
. She d.
23 March 1960
and was buried in the
Great Orme cemetery
,
Llandudno
.